Date

Sections

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Boeing (NYSE: BA) and SELEX Systemi Integrati, S.p.A of Italy today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Collaboration to work toward compatibility of global air traffic management systems. The companies will seek to cooperate on the Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) program and the U.S. Next Generation Air Transportation (NextGen) program.

The United States, Europe and other regions of the world have major programs under way to modernize their air traffic management systems. When aviation systems have compatible air traffic control systems, procedures, equipage and training, they are said to be interoperable, which enables airspace users to operate seamlessly through global airspace.

"Global interoperability is achievable through strong collaboration of government and private sector leaders in air traffic management in both the U.S. NextGen and European SESAR initiatives," said Neil Planzer, vice president, Air Traffic Management, Boeing Flight Services, speaking at the Air Traffic Control Association's (ATCA) annual conference in National Harbor, Md.

As air traffic management systems improve with new technologies such as four-dimensional (4D) trajectory management, information management, and performance-based navigation, it will be critical to establish common standards to harmonize these systems and ensure that aircraft can fly in all regions of the world.

"Conceiving and developing an integrated Air Traffic Management system for the USA and Europe, for the coming decades, is a complex challenge that can only be dealt with using the best available skills in the aviation and integrated systems domains," said Luca Izzotti, senior vice president, Strategy and Product Planning, SELEX Sistemi Integrati S.p.A.

SELEX Sistemi Integrati is one of the main players in the ATM development and implementation initiatives in Europe, with a solid track record of ATM research and development activities. The company is one of the major industrial contributors to the SESAR joint undertaking, the European Public Private Partnership set up by the European institution to implement the Single European Sky for Air Traffic Management.